Cleveland-area Kmart shutting its doors permanently

The Kmart at 7700 Brookpark Road in Brooklyn would permanently close as of Oct. 12, 2014, according to a WARN letter filed with the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services dated July 8. About 200 employees will lose their jobs during a two-week period beginning Oct. 5, 2014.

According to an email from Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears Holdings Corp.’s director of corporate communications Howard Riefs, eligible employees will receive severance. The employees, most of whom are part-time or hourly, will be able to apply for open positions at Sears and Kmart stores in the area. Kmart is a Sears subsidiary.

Riefs said the store will be open to the public until mid-October, and its liquidation sale will begin July 27.

“Store closures are part of a series of actions we’re taking to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model. These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail — at the store, online and in the home,” Riefs said in the email.

The company announced the closure of a Westlake store in January — and gave a very similar statement, noting the desire to cut costs, adjust its asset base and speed up its business model transformation.

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